Georgetown, GINA, January 31, 2004

As Government continues to honour its commitment to educate the people, President Bharrat Jagdeo fulfilled yet another promise. This time it is a multi-million dollar Information Technology Centre (ITC) at the University of Guyana.
In February 2001, the Head of State announced at the University’s first Career Day, a grant of $200M for an information technology building on the campus.
Last evening the building, located to the northwestern end of the campus was declared open.
“Maybe it is a dream come true for some students and maybe it is a promise kept, but for me it represents something a little different because this facility serves to erode some suspicions that may be in some quarters…accusations have been levelled against the Government of not being fully committed to the University of Guyana,” the President said.
Reiterating his commitment to the University’s development, President Jagdeo expressed the hope that this initiative taken by Government may quell the rumours about Government not being committed to the process.
He noted that the Administration’s decisions years ago to build another campus for the University at Tain was also criticized along racial lines. It was alleged that the Administration’s decision was for the benefits for Indo-Guyanese, the majority of whom live in Berbice. The President pointed out that the idea was toyed with by the previous Administration and studies to that effect were done, but construction did not start.
The President noted that from time to time his Administration has been critical of various aspects of the University, but this has always been constructive criticism.
“We are critical because we care. Because we want to see the University succeed. No country can develop without preparing cadres and the University of Guyana has been doing this well for several years and we want it to do it better…”
The President said Government’s criticism surrounds the need for more external examiners, the need for a fair appeal for students, the quality of the entry at UG (time for entrance examination) tenure for lectures, insufficient publications by staff and management related issues.
“But it is not unconstructive criticism. It’s not to pull down the University. We support the development of this University,” he said.
The ITC is being operated in collaboration with the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Authority (GT&T), with GT&T investing an initial $10M for technology access, computers and a server and printer. The company will also be footing the bill for the monthly high-speed access to the Internet by the Centre.
President Jagdeo hailed the partnership as a good thing for development in Guyana, urging that more companies should go into partnership with the university.
United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also contributed to the University’s information technology programme.
Dr. James Rose Vice Chancellor of UG, said with the new centre, the University is hoping to introduce new programmes and significantly develop its IT progr4amme.
The centre was built by Kishun Bacchus Construction Services and the consultancy firm was VIKAB and cost $95M. The new centre is equipped with 64 Pentium Four computers.
President Jagdeo noted that Government is currently working on several other information technology initiatives that will see access for rural communities. Among these is the US$40M loan being negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank. This will see the establishment of call centres across the country that Government will privatise.
Also the Administration is negotiating another loan with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) that will see an additional $600M being spent to develop information technology on the campus.